


Love is the Drug

by mottsforthots



Category: Logan Lucky (2017)
Genre: 1920s, Alternate Universe - 1920s, Amputee, Body Positivity, Body Worship, Cheating, Cheating on each other with others, Clyde Logan is a Good Boyfriend, Clyde Logan is a Sweetheart, Clyde is Gatsby, Cunnilingus, Divorce, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Fighting, Fights, First Love, Fisting?, Fluff and Smut, Forbidden Love, Great Gatsby but make it Logan Lucky, Happy Ending, Inspired by The Great Gatsby, Jimmy is Nick, Joe is Tom, Loss of Limbs, Lost Love, Love, Marriage, Mellie is Myrtle, Mention of pregnancy, Old Friends, Old Love, Old Romance, Post-Divorce, Post-World War I, Pregnancy, Residual limb, Rey is Daisy, Romance, Sam is Wilson, Sex, Slow Romance, Smut, Southern Gentleman Clyde Logan, Stump Humping, Stumping, Sylvia is Jordan, The Great Gatsby References, True Love, Unrequited Love, Unwanted marriage, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Fisting, Vaginal Sex, World War I References, argument, bad marriage, mutual divorce, new marriage, ok seriously i'm done now i'll shut up i swear, unhappy couples
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 22:55:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mottsforthots/pseuds/mottsforthots
Summary: "Logan? What Logan?"Five years have passed since Rey Niima fell in love with Clyde Logan, a poor West Virginian officer heading into war, at a party in Louisville. After marrying old money Joe Bang and suffering the consequences of his infidelity, Rey is beyond surprised to find her old love, now slightly different after war, lives just across the bay in New York. Not only that, but he's throwing parties with money he didn't once have in hopes she'll show up...
Relationships: Clyde Logan & Rey (Star Wars), Clyde Logan/Rey (Star Wars)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20
Collections: Clyde Loves Books Fic Exchange





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KoreRosemarinus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoreRosemarinus/gifts).



> Hope y'all enjoy! xx

“I’m so incredibly bored,” Rey complained, reclining on the champagne-colored couch and fanning her face off while the warm summer breeze floated in through the open doors. Sylvia sighed at the grievance and rose from her spot beside the smaller woman, shimming her shoulders to shake out her stiff limbs.

“Well, you ought to get out of this room every now and then. Stay in here, and you’ll positively rot. I don’t think I’ve ever met such a woman in her twenties so bent on being cooped up. Let’s go to New York and have lunch. Right now,” Sylvia proposed. Rey merely continued fanning herself, staring off into the distance.

Her best friend of many years moved towards one of the open doors and battled the white silk that wrapped around her when a powerful gust of wind came by. Rey watched Sylvia’s fruitless struggle and finally muttered, “It’s too hot.” Sylvia glanced over her shoulder at the young woman and couldn’t hide her worried expression any longer.

Hell, even Rey was worried for herself. 

She hadn’t been the same woman she was in her youth, not for a long while now, five years to be exact. Although, _who_ left five years ago, might be the reason why. However, no one wanted to talk about that, especially not her husband. 

If there was one thing Rey had decided upon in the extensive years that had passed, it was that she hated war. Sure, World War I was over now, and the economy was booming as a direct result, but everything still felt as empty in her heart as it did when a certain soldier had left, only returning one letter after his deployment. 

By then, Rey was already engaged to Joe Bang, and there was nothing she could do about it when that lone letter had arrived. She’d cried in the bathtub and begged for Mrs. Bang to cancel the wedding— she’d even told Sylvia she was going to run away if it wasn’t called off— but the world just kept spinning and Rey married Joe the next day with a faraway look in her eyes and a strained smile plastered on her face. 

That was how Rey had gotten through the past five years married to Joe. He’d tried for children with her, but Rey was always one step ahead when it came to preventive measures for the long run. She knew that she couldn’t escape the inevitable forever, but for some reason, she held on tightly to the hope of her officer’s return.

After the letter and after the wedding, Rey never heard from her soldier again. She discerned news from his brother, Jimmy, and his sister, Mellie, but she never heard anything more from Clyde. His name alone sent a shiver down her spine and a sharp, stabbing ache through her heart.

If she could merely touch his face again, if only once, Rey felt like she could die a happy woman. She’d met Clyde at a party five years ago when she had just turned eighteen; her foster mother at the time was hosting a going away party for some of the officers stationed at Camp Taylor. 

Rey had been young and naive but was the star of the party in the sense that every man in their ritzy home tried to court her that night. However, out of all the officers, none caught her eye more than the shy and slow speaking giant of a man who looked like he couldn’t possibly hurt a fly if he wanted to.

She remembered thinking he looked rather soft for war with his dark puppy dog eyes, a mop of long raven hair, and pouty lips that suited his face just fine. He was unconventionally handsome, that had been Rey’s first thought, and it was probably why he was by himself without any attention. 

She’d excused herself from yet another man who told her she looked beautiful that night and approached the officer who stood at least a whole head and some inches taller than her. The tips of his ears had gone red as she neared him, his posture straightening out, but Rey simply smiled and casually extended her hand to him in greeting.

“You look like you haven’t said a single word tonight, officer. Is this corner truly that much more entertaining than the party a few feet away?” she’d asked with a flutter of her eyelashes. 

Rey’s hair had been long back then, pinned away from her face and curled perfectly to garner notice, and she’d never been so pleased to see a man visibly swallow when his eyes trailed over its brunette length. It was the first thing he’d ever done to show that she had his whole, undivided attention. 

“I ain’t much for parties, ma’am,” he answered smoothly. Rey had been caught off guard by his voice, lilted with a southern accent like everyone else in Kentucky but clearly not from around there. He had the kind of drawl that made every word drip off his tongue like honey, and his disposition led Rey to believe he was a bonafide gentleman.

Every other officer there had been forward in their advances, but he was the only one who acted like it was _his_ luck to be in her presence and not the other way around. “Do you have a name, officer?” Rey asked, moving to stand beside him so they could watch the festivities side-by-side.

“Clyde Logan, ma’am. I’ll be in the 7th Battalion when me and the rest of these folks head off to serve,” he provided. She had smiled at the extra tidbit of information and was pleased to discover he had manners, though lacking a few social graces as most men didn’t talk to women about war and the like. 

“Well, it’s just fine to meet you, Clyde Logan. My name is—”

“Miss Niima, yes, ma’am, I know. You’ve got everyone’s eye tonight, I reckon,” Clyde confessed. She had blushed at that and tilted her gaze up to find his eyes already upon her. It was hardly a surprise, then, when he followed her up to her room later that night and deflowered her.

Clyde had been Rey’s first kiss before he brought her to bed, his lips perfect and warm against hers— demanding, yet motivated by cautious desire. It had been a kiss filled with newfound passion and heat that would ultimately find her dropped gently onto her sheets moments later, but Rey had welcomed it all the same.

Five years later, Rey could still remember the feeling of his starchy green uniform underneath her fingertips as she’d shucked it off and the way he’d split her open in the most erotic of ways. There would never be another man like Clyde Logan for Rey, but the war took more than it gave.

And it took Clyde Logan, along with a small piece of him, before she could truly process the fact that she wanted a life with him and him only.

Joe Bang had come into her life three years after Clyde left for the war, dazzling her with pearls and dresses and shoes. There were rumors his money came from the bank in a different sort of way, unlike the usual legal one. Rey was still young then, heartbroken at the loss of her officer, and so many people had pushed her towards Joe.

_He’d be a good husband; he’d spoil you,_ they’d said. So she gave in to his courtship, letting herself enjoy it as best as she could while she continued writing letters to Clyde in secret. In the end, nothing ever came back to Rey, and maybe that was why she’d agreed to marry Joe.

If Clyde never wrote back, that had to mean something… 

Well, it meant something entirely different than what she’d expected when she’d received a single missive from the man she loved. The letter Clyde sent her, the truth of his life with origins in West Virginia from an impoverished family, led to a broken pearl necklace— a gift from Joe— and a mental breakdown the day before her wedding.

Rey never heard from Clyde again after that. 

Sylvia had always been her friend, a striking woman who’d bounced around in foster care alongside her until she struck gold with the game of golf, rising from rags to riches with Rey. When Rey told everything to Sylvia about Clyde, she’d been surprised only months after her wedding to Joe when Sylvia showed up at her doorstep with two strangers in tow.

Their names were Jimmy and Mellie Logan, the siblings Clyde had mentioned in his last letter. It had also been quite the shocker to discover Joe knew the Logan family as the Bang family had humble beginnings in the same town from which the Logans hailed.

Apparently, the Bang’s had gone back to stay at their old family home when Joe was younger every now and then, but Joe lost interest in relaying that little bit of backstory in favor of something, or _someone,_ else.

Joe’s inattention had given Rey the time to get to know the other Logans, but they told her soon enough that Clyde was no longer the man he’d been before he left for war. He came back without a hand and the irrational notion that he could no longer be a man, believing he was a burden that no woman deserved, especially not her. 

Hence the reason for the responses that never came and the sole letter that had viciously ripped out the remnants of her fragile heart. 

The brother and sister never said much more about him whenever Rey asked about Clyde. Jimmy simply mentioned how Clyde worked in the liquor business the last time he checked, and Mellie claimed that Clyde preferred a private life these days where no one could see what he now lacked.

Rey’s heart hurt every time they talked about him, but she needed to talk about him even five years later. Mellie and Jimmy had moved to East Egg about a year ago due to the fact Sylvia and Jimmy had gotten rather close, and Mellie had also taken an interest in Joe’s brother, Sam.

Having gotten married three months ago, Sam and Mellie now lived in their tiny apartment above the gas station Sam ran, so no one _really_ batted an eye when Joe started leaving the house more often to visit his brother and check up on the newlywed couple. The clandestine phone calls that came as a result, however, certainly grabbed everyone’s attention.

Rey was no fool. She knew that Joe found Mellie attractive and that something was indeed going on between them. After all, Joe had never bothered to see his ‘failure’ of a brother until he married Mellie. 

But she was as unhappy in her marriage as Joe was, so she quietly let it go and spent the majority of her time with Sylvia every day. It was an easy and ridiculously luxurious life Rey lived, yet her world still seemed to revolve morosely around the loss of her handsome officer.

“It’s always too hot for you whenever I suggest we do something. If you don’t get off that couch, I’m certain it’s going to swallow you whole,” Sylvia sighed. Rey set her fan down on the glass table in front of her and sat up on the cushion, watching as Sylvia pulled a golf club from the bag she’d brought with her.

“Well, what do you propose we do, then? I don’t feel like getting sand in my suit if you offer we swim, but I also don’t feel like going into the city. If you can find something for us to do that doesn’t include those two things, I’ll join you,” Rey agreed with the hint of a challenging tone in her voice. 

Sylvia cracked a grin at her best friend and lightly swung the club around as she muttered teasingly, “What to do, what to do…” However, she didn’t get to come up with anything as Joe boisterously marched into the room with his eyes trained on the whiskey in the corner.

He was awfully sweaty, probably from another silly game of polo, and the towel over his shoulder meant to help with that issue remained draped there unused. “You know I read somewhere the sun is getting colder every year. If that were true, shouldn’t the summers be cooler?” he grumbled to himself, pouring a generous drink.

“Even if the sun is cooler, darling, it will still be hotter than anything we have on this earth,” Rey replied dully, looking away from her husband and back to Sylvia with the everpresent subtle sadness in her eyes. 

“Well, anyway, I hear there’s going to be a party tonight across the bay. Over in that new money West Egg area. It’s gonna be held by one of them Logans, I know that much, but I didn’t think—”

“Logan? What Logan?” Rey immediately perked up at the statement, turning to brace herself against the back of the couch while she zeroed in on her husband with wide eyes. Sylvia caught her newfound excitement and tried to shoot her a warning look, but Joe didn’t seem to think anything of it and shrugged.

“Like I was sayin’, I didn’t think Jimmy had the kind of money to throw a party in West Egg, and we all know for damn sure it ain’t Mellie and my brother, but it’s one of them. Unless that amputee brother of theirs suddenly came out from whatever rock he’s been living under, then—”

“Well then, we must go. We have to. Sylvia, I demand you come with me to ransack my closet and help get us ready for the night,” Rey declared, jumping up onto her T-strap heel-clad feet and nodding to her husband. Joe frowned, finally using the towel to wipe away his abundant sweat.

“Do we gotta? I actually had plans… to visit Sam tonight, as a matter of fact,” Joe affirmed, though his eyes got nervous and looked away from Rey’s face. She knew what that meant, that he was going to see Mellie. Frankly, she couldn’t care less at that moment.

If it really was Clyde, and if he truly was holding a party— so very unlike him— Rey had to go and find him. “Alright, Joe, that’s fine. Sylvia and I will go all by ourselves and have a wonderful time and dance all night without you, you brute,” she announced, trying to keep a teasing and bubbly tone that wouldn’t disclose to Joe her true intentions.

He just waved them off, turning back to his whiskey, and Rey knew he’d accepted the fact Rey and Sylvia were going to the party. Rey strode across the room, the crystals on her dress lightly clinking while she enthusiastically reached out for Sylvia to grasp her hands. “Come, Sylvie. You know how to style hair, unlike me,” she urged.

The two women practically fled from the lounge room, marching down long marble hallways past butlers donned in black and white suits until they collapsed into Rey’s private room. With frantic eyes, Sylvia rounded on Rey, stopping her in her mad dash to the closet.

“I know what you’re up to, Rey, and you’re going to get in trouble for it. You’re a pretty little fool if you think Joe isn’t going to catch on at some point that Clyde Logan was an old flame of yours and you’re going just for him,” Sylvia hissed conspiratorially, as if she was paranoid someone was listening on the other side of the door.

Without a wary thought in her head, Rey nonchalantly brushed her off and rounded the taller woman so that she could walk into the oversized closet. What should she even wear tonight? What would catch his attention in the middle of the crowd? She desperately needed something that reminded him of the younger Rey he’d met and fell in love with.

“I’ll go with you, but I’ll have no part in whatever silly game you’re going to play. And, I’m taking Jimmy with me. It is his brother, after all,” Sylvia sighed resignedly. Rey beamed at her friend over her shoulder and turned back to the dresses.

Clyde had been a simple man when they met five years ago. They’d spent a week together before he officially left Camp Taylor and was shipped out across the seas, but she felt she figured out everything there was to know about him in the short amount of time they’d had together. He’d never been anything but completely genuine with her. 

The first thing that caught her attention was a champagne-colored dress with a skirt that fell to about mid-calf, its skirt a layered petal-like material that gave off a somewhat sheer and feathery illusion. A simple tulle sash sat low on the hips around it to compliment the shapeless structure, though its color was a few shades darker than the dress itself.

Its neckline was straight across and strapless, only a few of the little feathery structures continuing there. She snatched it off its hanger along with a pair of cream-colored T-strap heels and moved back towards her private room’s main lounge. 

“What do you think of this? Too much? Not enough?” Rey asked Sylvia excitedly, nibbling on her thumb finger as she scrutinized the outfit, holding it up to herself. Her best friend just smiled and pushed the dress in Rey’s hands closer to her chest.

“It’s perfect, Rey. If you don’t wear it, I’ll weep tears big enough to drown us in this room and then you’ll never see your officer,” Sylvia teased. Rey blushed at the compliment and allusion, then asked her friend to help her out of her current ensemble while nerves rose in her belly.

*****

The drive to West Egg was a relatively quiet one, the taxi they’d called to retrieve them saying nothing to start a polite conversation. All Rey could think about was whether or not she’d find Clyde tonight and what he would look like after five years. 

She knew he was missing a hand, but Rey didn’t care one bit about trivialities. She loved Clyde Logan, always had all this time, and nothing silly like that was going to drive her from him. While others may make snide remarks about it and frown at the disability, Rey knew she didn’t have one ounce of distaste in her. 

Especially not for the sacrifice of a brave soldier.

“You two are going to Logan’s then?” the cab driver prompted. Rey flicked her eyes away from the road they drove down to the rearview mirror the cabbie peered through. 

“Yes. We heard about it earlier today and decided we must see it for ourselves,” Rey replied. The cabbie laughed and reached into the passenger seat beside him, withdrawing a newspaper and handing it back to them. Rey’s breath caught in her throat at the grainy picture on the front cover.

There he was, dressed in a magnificent dark blue suit that hugged him in all the right ways. He was wider, if that was even possible, and his hair was still long but styled magnificently around his face. He wasn’t smiling; no, his expression much more intense as he stared resolutely into the camera. Rey was drawn in within seconds, enamored by his stoic dignity.

Sure enough, when she looked for it, she found that the lower half of his left arm was missing, and a faux ligament rested in its place. It looked as though the fingers couldn’t move, stiff and rigid, but Rey chastised herself internally. It wasn’t as if he was going to have some futuristic robot arm.

“He’s been throwing parties for the last year. I’m surprised you two haven’t heard of it before! Everyone in West Egg goes to enjoy the festivities. What kind of man just gives out free alcohol and entertainment like that? Well, he’s richer than God, I know that much!

“Some say he’s a hitman, you know? Paid to take people out? Others say he’s a descendant of some German king, but I call phooey on that one. I hear he’s an alcohol man, selling all that liquor that can’t be sold anymore in drugstores— damn prohibition. 

“He’s smart if you ask me. Everyone’s jonesing for a drink these days, and he hands out champagne like crazy at these parties! Even the feds are in on it; that’s why he don’t get in trouble. But like I said, that's just what I heard. He don’t show himself much at these parties, I know that much, so you’re lucky if you actually see him.

“Hey, what do you say? If you see him tonight, tell him Earl the cabbie says he wants an invite to one of these things!” the man finally shut up after his long spiel, but Rey was still caught up on the fact the cabbie said Clyde had been throwing parties for the past year.

Why didn’t Mellie or Jimmy tell her? Did they even know? Well, to be fair, Rey had been living here long before the siblings and hadn’t heard anything about Clyde prior, but she still felt like a fool for not knowing her one true love was within reach across the bay.

She didn’t get to think for too long, however, as the iron gates cloaked with dark green ivy came into view when they rounded the corner. One long, tan, gravel path stretched out before them as they drove through the gates, and Rey’s eyes went wide as she stared at the sheer amount of people pouring in to the palatial estate.

Some were couples eager for a night out, others were grand parties packed into cars already wasted before showing up. Even singles stumbled in, left with nowhere to go but Logan’s. “I had no idea…” Sylvia whispered in shock beside her.

Rey just nodded lamely with parted lips and an awed expression, but it was the house that came into view that truly stole her breath. A monstrous, castle-like mansion made of grey stone and littered with shimmering glass windows rested on the very edge of the property.

Before the entrance, one grandiose fountain sat in the center of the roundabout, the falling water seemed to glitter like precious jewels under the moonlight.

More people clamored into the house than Rey had ever seen in her entire life, and Joe had taken her many places across the world. It seemed like they came from all walks of life— lawmen, politicians, actresses, singers, gamblers, film stars, and just your everyday man and woman looking for a thrill. 

“You remember what I said now, yeah? Let him know Earl wants an invite!” the cabbie called once the two girls tumbled out of the car, tossing him the coins he required. But his voice faded into the background as music roared from inside. 

Full swing jazz blasted throughout the marble hallways as Rey and Sylvia slowly but steadily began to enter the home with the rest of the eager individuals packed around them. “We must find him, we must,” Rey demanded while they moved along with the flow of the crowd.

“I’m only staying with you until Jimmy gets here. You want to find Clyde? That’s just fine. But I said I’d have no part in your game, and I meant it,” Sylvia asserted with finality. Rey deflated a little at the fact her best friend didn’t mind abandoning her, but Clyde was much too important right now.

“Fine. We’ll have a drink or two and walk around until Jimmy comes and keeps you company. Who knows? Maybe I’ll find Mr. Logan before your date arrives and you won’t have to leave me behind after all,” Rey snapped. 

Sylvia pressed her lips into a thin line but nodded in agreement, looping her arm in Rey’s as they finally reached the mouth of the crowd that dispersed into the open spaces of the mansion. Butlers dressed to the nines milled around with glasses filled to the brim, and Rey was quick to grab two when one of the men walked by.

“Come. Let’s see what all the fuss is that way,” Rey offered, dragging Sylvia in the direction of what appeared to be outside. She sipped anxiously on her bubbly, her eyes shifting over every face in the crowd in hopes she’d find his, but the sight of a large pool a short distance away from the beach distracted her.

“Look! Is that Josephine Baker? Why I adore her dances! Oh, Rey, please, I’ll only be a moment. Will you stay here while I introduce myself?” Sylvia cried in glee, squeezing her best friend’s hand at the top of the stairs. 

Rey giggled at the other woman’s sudden mood change and nodded. “I’d be a terrible soul to say no to you, Sylvie. I’ll be right here watching. Now go!” she encouraged. 

Rey watched as the black-haired woman scurried down the steps to the famous flapper standing at the bottom but turned her attention back to the entirety of the party while she drank.

Streamers descended from the air from seemingly nowhere, and there was enough multicolored confetti on the floor to suggest someone must be throwing it around like an insane person, but Rey loved it all. 

Jazz music swam in her head, laughter and overjoyed conversations filled her ears, and the champagne tickled the back of her throat— all while she gazed over every face she could see. “Mrs. Bang, is it?” a voice suddenly asked from behind her. 

Rey quickly swallowed her last sip of alcohol and turned around confusedly to set her focus upon a man she’d never seen before, a rather stocky man with wild brown curls and trimmed facial hair. His accent was foreign, and she sincerely hoped he wasn’t someone she’d met before.

“I apologize, madam, but I am a dear friend to the host of this party, and I dare say I believe you know him as well. My name is Max, Max Chilblain. I work for Mr. Logan, see, and he has mentioned you in passing a great many times,” the man, Max, explained to her.

Rey’s heart lurched into her throat as she stuck out a now shaking hand to the man in front of her, blinking past the shock that came when Max revealed Clyde had talked about her. She just barely got out, “Is Mr. Logan… is his name Clyde?” 

The man beamed and nodded as he shook her hand delightedly. “Indeed it is, madam,” he agreed. Rey selfishly tore her gaze away from Max and looked over his shoulders, hoping Clyde might be behind him or around if this was one of his close friends. 

“Does he know I’m here?” Rey asked softly. The twinkle in Max’s eye suggested he knew exactly what she was _really_ asking and he dropped her hand with an amused grin.

“The host does not, Mrs. Bang, but I’d be more than happy to notify him of your being here?” Max drew out, cocking his head to the side. Rey bit down on her bottom lip, looked around anxiously once more, then settled her gaze back on Max and gave a terse nod. 

He simply bowed and spun around, leaving Rey without another word. She tossed back the rest of her drink as soon as he was out of sight. 

“Who was that cat-like creature?” Sylvia asked. Startled, Rey jumped at her friend’s sudden appearance and set her champagne glass on the marble ledge in fear she’d break it.

“Hasn’t anyone told you sneaking up on someone will only cause trouble? My goodness, Sylvie! And it was… someone who knows Mr. Logan. He’s gone off to fetch him for me, so you don’t have to be with me anymore,” Rey informed, turning her attention back to the party in an attempt to appear indifferent. 

Sylvia opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of Jimmy’s voice through the crowd caught both of their attention. “Sylvia! Hey, Sylvie! There you two are. Been lookin’ all over for you,” he huffed, pushing past a congregated group of revelers.

Rey gave a warning look to Sylvia, her best friend returning a curt nod, both of them coming to an unspoken understanding of what was to happen next. “Why don’t we go find a punch bowl, hm, Jimmy? Rey’s not thirsty anymore and she knows too many people. I’m tired of socializing. Come with me,” Sylvia commanded.

Jimmy just raised his eyebrows but willingly trailed behind her back into the home, leaving Rey all by herself while everyone around her partied like there was no tomorrow. She snagged another glass of champagne for herself and waited patiently.

Fireworks boomed in the sky some ten minutes later, but Rey was too nervous to pay them any attention. It had been a while since that Max fellow had left to find Clyde, and Rey was starting to think maybe Max didn’t know him at all. Or, perhaps, he couldn’t find him anywhere.

Earl had said he never showed his faces at these things. At this point, Rey couldn’t seem to pick out the same face twice whenever she searched the sea of people. Now fairly tipsy with a dull ache growing in her feet, Rey sighed frustratedly and turned away from the ledge only to run headfirst into the firm chest of someone who had been directly behind her.

Her champagne tumbled to the floor, soaking the shoes of the group beside her, but Rey had already started frantically apologizing to the man in front of her until her eyes went up and up and up… to find Clyde Logan staring down at her. The words in her mouth died instantly and all Rey could do was look. 

His bottom lip quivered slightly upon the sight of her and Rey swallowed down the hard lump that had grown in her throat— she didn’t even consider imagining what people were thinking right now if they cared enough to pay attention. “Mrs. Bang, it is a surprise to see your beautiful face tonight,” Clyde spoke.

Rey whimpered at his voice, deeper than ever with that same Southern drawl that made her stomach flip and her heart race. She was certain she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “M-Mr. Logan, I… it is a surprise to see your handsome face tonight, too,” she whispered.

His mouth twitched, concealing a barely-there smile, and Rey stood frozen to the spot while he raked his eyes over her body and hesitantly extended his hand to grasp the fabric of her skirt lightly. Rey’s breath hitched as her eyes darted around her, hoping no one was witness to the intimate act.

“You’re lovelier than the day I left you, Rey. The years have been takin’ a lot outta me, but to see you here tonight… it makes the wait worth it,” Clyde murmured. His words were meant for her and only her and, now, it was Rey’s turn for her mouth to tremble while her eyes filled with tears.

“You ain’t leavin’ me again, you hear me?” she demanded under her breath, her old southern slang slipping out like they were back in Kentucky, younger and so in love. Clyde finally let a smile show at her words and he dipped his head in agreement.

“Yes, ma’am. Am I too forward in askin’ to steal you away for a minute or two…?” he asked, his hand dropping from the skirt she’d forgotten he held. Rey shook her head immediately and looped her arm through his.

“I’ve been waiting five years for you, Clyde Logan. You can have more than a minute or two,” she declared. He beamed down at her and started to walk them away from the crowd in the direction of somewhere private. Rey, too caught up in the reality that Clyde was here with her after all this time, never noticed that she latched onto his arm with a missing hand.


	2. Chapter 2

They’d not made it two steps into his personal living quarters when his arms were wrapping around her lower body and pulling her into him, his lips finding hers like a boat seeking shore. Rey whimpered against him, her hands clutching his suit jacket, and she all but melted into his embrace.

Every time one of them pulled away to admire the other’s face or take a steadying breath, the other tugged them back for more. It was a passionate, heavy, and hot round of kissing, and Rey had never felt so dazed pressing her lips against someone else’s before.

“You married him,” Clyde stated out of nowhere. She nodded and licked her lips. Looking down at the floor, she rested the side of her face against his chest and wrapped her arms snugly around his torso.

“I know… I got your letter the night before the wedding. I begged them to call it off, but they were insistent. I never loved him, Clyde. I never loved him the way I loved you. I  _ still _ love you, after all these years…” she admitted shamelessly. His grip tightened around her as Rey closed her eyes to stop tears from escaping.

When she sniffled, Clyde pulled away to cup the side of her face with the hand that was still intact, the other one lying limply at his side. Rey shook her head and reached down to grab it, pulling it up so he could use the wooden palm and bendable fingers to hold the other side of her face.

“I love all of you, Clyde Logan. Don’t you dare hide yourself away from me. I don’t care if you’re missing a hand; I only care that you’re alive and here in front of me. This doesn’t determine if you’re a worthy man or not. You were, and always will be, the best man I know,” she declared with passionate conviction, strengthening her grasp around his wooden wrist.

The arm itself was made of some sort of silver metal, she could see that much when the sleeve of his suit jacket was pushed up, but Rey simply guided the prosthetic to her lips and kissed it so sweetly that Clyde let out a soft sound of awe.

“Why didn’t you come to me? I’m on the other side of the bay, and I was—”

“Married. You were married, Rey. I threw all these parties because I knew you loved ‘em so much when we were younger. I held ‘em hopin’ one day you’d show up, and here you are. I couldn’t come to you, Rey. You had a man. You… have a man,” Clyde admitted.

Those chocolate brown puppy eyes had remained through the years, and Rey stared into them, soaking up the messy mixture of happiness and sadness blended together and swirling within their depths. “Hell, I even walked out on my dock every night starin’ at that light you got in front of your home. I knew you were there, I just… I couldn’t reach you,” he sighed.

Rey clasped both of his hands and pulled him deeper into the living space, unknowingly towards his bedroom, and replied with furrowed eyebrows, “What light? You could have told someone, Clyde. Your sister and your brother, they live in East Egg with Sylvia and I, didn’t you know that?”

It was his turn to look bewildered. He stopped them before Rey could enter the massive room behind them, an equally large bed caught in her peripheral vision. 

“No, I didn’t know that. I ain’t talked to ‘em in a few years, two or three if I’m countin’ correctly,” he revealed.

Rey understood now why she barely got any information out of Jimmy and Mellie— they only knew what they’d known three years ago. They had no idea he lived in West Egg, that this was his party, that he’d become richer than sin. “Well, you ought to give them a call… it seems things have changed a lot these past years,” Rey whispered.

Clyde only nodded and started to push her into the room with determined eyes, his face remaining stoic and calm. “I meant what I said, Rey. I ain’t even know a woman could get prettier the way you did. When I heard you were here…” he trailed off at the same time Rey’s knees hit the back of the bed.

She tumbled backward onto its luxurious sheets and stared up at him, realizing in that exact moment that Clyde was looking at her the way all girls wanted to be looked at. 

Swallowing back any remaining anxiety that resided in her, Rey tilted her chin up and asked firmly, “Well, are you going to stand there all night or are you going ravish me?”

In the next instant, Clyde was shrugging off the suit jacket from his broad frame and throwing it across the room before gingerly falling on top of her. She giggled and wove her fingers into his long, inky locks to haul him down to her. 

“I’ve missed your lips, Clyde,” she whispered against him.

He groaned as if her revelation was painful to him, and her little fingers skillfully started to unbutton his black button up as he moved his lips down the length of her jaw to her neck. 

“Does Joe know you’re here?” he all but growled into her ear.

Rey shook her head frantically and moaned when he kissed the sweet spot just below her ear— he remembered. As soon as his toned chest and stomach came into view, still spotted with moles and freckles, Rey couldn’t help but run her hands over every inch of his pale skin.

He sighed against her neck and released the tender flesh between his teeth before trailing them back to her mouth and thrusting his tongue between her eager lips. “Clyde…” Rey whimpered, meeting his passion with a starved need of her own as she pushed her hands under the fabric on his shoulders and dragged it away.

The shirt soon joined the growing pile on the floor as Rey kicked off her heels, the dull thuds echoing in the enormous room. Clyde wrapped his uninjured arm around her torso and pulled her up higher on the bed. 

She giggled when her head hit the silky pillows and, suddenly, it was her turn to fall victim to his desire to see her without clothes on. Shoving him back gently, Rey sat up so that she could grab the bottom of her skirt and tug it up to her waist, making it easier for him. 

“Jesus Christ, Rey… how’d you get so pretty?” he breathed out.

His wide, chocolate eyes took in her tanned legs, stunned by the fact they’d been bare at some point to receive the sun. She shuddered as both his fleshy and wooden fingertips moved up the inside of her legs. 

“Take it off… I want to feel you, Clyde Logan,” Rey requested, no,  _ demanded. _

Clyde swallowed hard at her plea, his eyes flicking down to the metallic forearm secured by a leather buckle. Rey licked her lips and reached out to confidently bring the prosthetic towards her mouth.

He watched like a man seeing God for the first time, every fibre of his being trained on the sight of Rey kissing the wooden knuckles while her deft fingers unbuckled the strap and charmed the prosthetic from his arm. 

“Rey, I don’t know if—” he started, but she cut him off surging upwards to press her lips against his.

At the same time, she carefully dropped the prosthetic to the floor and pulled away to look at what so often hid beneath a faux surface. The lower half of his forearm and hand were missing, the pale flesh puckered at the site of the amputation, but it was still Clyde.

It was still  _ his _ arm, still  _ him. _ So Rey lifted her gaze to lock onto Clyde’s as she slowly brought the stump to her lips to start leaving the purest of kisses over the drawn in skin. Clyde hissed at the action, his pants now incredibly tight at the sight, but Rey just grinned and continued to press her lips against the sensitive flesh.

“Enough, Rey, or I’ll finish it all right here, and I know ya don’t want that. I don’t either,” he huffed. Rey blushed enchantingly and let go of his arm. 

Falling back against the pillows, she brought her legs up and methodically parted them in front of his heavy gaze. 

Just like that, his eyes darkened with untamed desire and he slotted his massive body between her legs, his hand and forearm pushing the fabric of her dress higher and higher until Rey, impatient, grabbed it and divested herself completely.

All that remained was the satin bra straining against her pebbled nipples and the matching satin shorts soaked against her pussy. 

“Clyde…” she begged softly. 

He flicked his eyes up to Rey as he reached out to tug down one of her bra straps, lower and lower, until her right breast was freed. She moaned softly at being exposed, carding her fingers into his hair, and he wasted no time leaning forward to pull the rosy bud between his lips, sucking unabashedly. 

“Oh, God,” Rey gasped, her eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling as she panted heavily beneath him.

Clyde’s tongue swirled and lapped against the hardened nub while his mouth sucked, teeth nipping at the tender flesh. Rey’s hips bucked off of the bed and rubbed enticingly against the bulge in his dress pants. 

The large cock just beneath the starched cloth was a reminder of what it was like to be filled with him all those years ago.

His fingers slipped around her back and managed to unclasp the bra before ripping it off of her tanned skin and tossing it behind him so her upper body was completely bare. 

“You got the sweetest little tits I’ve ever seen. I missed you so much, Rey… I been thinkin’ about you everyday since I left. I never stopped,” he murmured into her skin. 

She sighed contently and felt her breath hitch when his hand grabbed the waistband of her shorts in the middle, he swiftly wrenched them down to leave her entirely nude on his sheets. Clyde sat back on his heels, his hand and forearm running up and down her legs as he basked in the sight of her laid out in front of him.

The full-body blush that consumed Rey’s skin made her whimper and look down in embarrassment. “I… I hope I’m still what you remember,” she whispered. 

Clyde shook his head and let the back of his fingers lightly run over her slit and the soft thatch of hair that rested above her pubic bone. “You’re even better than I remember,” he groaned. 

Rey squeaked when Clyde abruptly dove in, pushing her legs up so that her calves could rest over his back while his large nose parted her slick folds and his tongue lapped up the wetness dripping out of her. 

“Oh, Clyde!” Rey cried loudly. 

She gripped his hair with her hands, her back arching off of the bed when his plush lips found her clit and sucked. Her eyes snapped shut and Rey’s toes curled against his shoulder blades. 

The sounds he emitted vibrated around her clit and she whined loudly. 

She softly begged, “Fingers… please, Clyde. I want your fingers inside of me.” His dark eyes flicked up to meet her hazy ones, just barely cracked open, and he immediately gave her what she wanted. He held her down by her belly with his amputated arm while his fingers moved to her tight pussy. 

Rey’s little hole, positively drenched with arousal, clenched at the first press of his finger but greedily accepted him only a second later when Clyde sank it deep inside of her. She moaned into the emptiness of the room again and tried to push herself against his mouth and hand, but he was strong and firmly kept her in place.

A second finger joined the first when he started to flick his tongue against her sensitive clit, the familiar coiling in her lower body warned her that she was about to come around his fingers. 

“C-Clyde… I-I think I’m gonna come soon,” Rey gasped out.

“I was hopin’ so, yes,” he asserted, increasing the pace of his fingers as he thrust them into her tight heat, mesmerized by the amount of slick coating his fingers and hand. Soon, Clyde plunged back in with relish to continue torturing her with his wicked mouth as Rey squirmed and writhed beneath him.

“Oh, God, Clyde… oh, fuck,” she swore, pushing against him successfully this time at the same moment he crooked his fingers within her and scraped the soft bundle of nerves deep within her pussy. “Clyde!” Rey screamed, her climax hitting her all at once.

Everything in her vision went white, all noise leaving her head, as the first orgasm she’d had in five years tore through her body. She clenched around his fingers, her velvety walls trying valiantly to milk him as if they’d fill her with his spend. Clyde faithfully worked her through it with deliberate pumps and languid licks.

When it all became too sensitive, Rey mewled and jerked away. “Please… please fuck me,” Rey pleased with glassy eyes and rosy cheeks. 

Clyde eased himself off from her to sit upright. “Shit, Rey… you know I’d do anythin’ for you. All you gotta do is ask and I’ll do it. I love you,” he muttered as he fumbled with the button on his pants, his frustration mounting when he couldn’t quite get it with just one hand.

Rey rushed upwards and did it for him, helping him push the pants down while she kissed his chest hungrily. “I don’t care what you think, Clyde Logan.  You're the best man I've ever known and wanted, with or without a hand . Fuck pants, we don’t ever have to wear them again if we don’t want to,” she proclaimed.

His entire face glowed with adoration and reverence, like he couldn’t believe she’d fallen back into his arms and still loved him as much as she did five years ago, injury be damned. “I think that sounds just fine, Rey,” Clyde agreed fervently.

She nodded and collapsed back against the pillows, keeping her legs parted so that he could continue removing his pants. When he finished, he crawled overtop of her and pressed his lips against hers once more. 

Rey sighed into his mouth, but pulled away with the intention of saying something important before he buried himself inside of her.

“I want you, Clyde Logan. I’ve waited so impossibly long for you. I want everything with you— getting married, starting a family, growing old together— so I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you want to spill yourself inside of me. Just know I’m not going to do anything to prevent what could happen,” she informed bluntly.

“I was hopin’ you’d say that because I want the same thing… but I gotta know, just before I go doin’ this, are you gonna leave Joe Bang? Are you gonna walk away and marry me? Do all that with me?” Clyde asked, obviously nervous despite the fact his thick, weeping cock rested heavily against her belly.

Rey cupped the sides of his face with her hands and kissed him slowly. When she pulled away, pressing her forehead against his, she whispered, “Clyde Logan, I will march back to that house right now and tell him I want a divorce if you want me to. Nothing’s going to stop me from having you, never again.” 

Her officer just beamed down at her, those crooked teeth of his that she loved so much shining in the moonlight, before shifting his hips and letting the tip of his cock jut against her needy pussy.

Rey’s hands gripped his shoulders as she lifted her knees up so they could rest beside her chest. Both of them watched with heavy eyes as his cock sank inside of her, inch by thick inch, until he was completely nestled inside. 

“You’re a fuckin’ dream, Rey,” Clyde moaned into her ear.

She whined softly and wiggled her hips against him, hoping that gave him the cue to move. He took her subtle suggestion when he pulled out nearly all the way only to slam back inside of her. 

“Fuck!” Rey cried out in pure bliss. 

Stars danced across her vision, like the golden confetti tossed around at the party, as Rey simply held onto Clyde while he settled into a rhythm that wasn’t too soft, but wasn’t too harsh either. 

“I love you, Rey Niima,” Clyde grunted as he pumped into her tight heat again and again, her slickness saturating the sheets below them.

Rey couldn’t help but shed a tear when he used her maiden name, the terrible last name of Bang having no place in this room. “Logan… call me Rey Logan,” she begged into the air. Clyde growled against her neck and started to suck on the skin with the intent to leave purple marks behind for everyone to see. 

His pace increased and the sounds that started to leave Rey’s mouth were sure to be heard by anyone roaming the upstairs halls, but she couldn’t care less as the feeling of Clyde Logan fucking into her pliant body filled her with euphoria. 

“You feel so fuckin’ good… I ain’t gonna last long, Rey. I haven’t… I haven’t had anyone since you. Only you,” Clyde confessed after claiming the right side of her neck for his own. She mewled when he changed his angle and hit that special place inside her, something soft and filled with nerves.

“Right there! God, right there, Clyde! T-touch me… please,” Rey all but sobbed, the pleasure growing once more inside of her. It came as a great but welcome surprise when he reached between them with the arm missing its hand and ground the puckered end into her clit.

Its blunt tip circling steadily against the sensitive nub had Rey’s back bowing off of the bed and into his chest as she cried out his name as she came without warning around his cock. 

“Shit, Rey!” he exclaimed, working her through it with his forearm while he continued to thrust into her again and again.

And just when she felt like it was starting to get too much, Clyde shoved the entirety of his length into her and groaned in her ear as the sudden warmth of his cum spilling into her soothed the overstimulation. 

“Clyde…” Rey whimpered softly.

“I’ve got you. I’ve always got you, Rey. I’m right here,” he murmured soothingly into her ear. 

They stayed in that position for a while until he finally finished within her, then he carefully pulled himself out and rolled onto his back so she could rest on top of him.

They were both spent, their hair matted to their faces with sweat and their skin flushed from exertion, but neither of them had been so happy in their entire lives. 

“Tomorrow. Come with me tomorrow to tell Joe I’m leaving him. We’ll rent out a little hotel room, bring Sylvie and Jimmy for support, and we’ll—”

“Jimmy?” Clyde cut off, his whole face contorting into something confused while he held her against him. She giggled, realizing he’d only recently learned that his siblings were here, and nodded.

“Yes… Jimmy and Mellie moved to East Egg a while back. We never heard anything about you, and it seems you all lost contact for a time. Mellie’s married to Joe’s brother, Sam, but… Mellie and Joe are… well, they’re like us. Can’t stand who they’re married to.

“And I’m quite alright with it, especially now that I have you. Joe can have Mellie, and I can have you, and Sam can… find someone else. But Jimmy and Sylvia have been getting along just fine. It wouldn’t surprise me if they announced a wedding soon. Say, why did the three of you stop talking?” Rey rushed out, covering quite a few topics that had Clyde’s brain whirling.

He coughed a little, running his fingers through her hair and resting his forearm on her lower back, then admitted, “Before I got all this, but after I came back from the war… Jimmy and Mellie and me, we… Well, Rey, we robbed one of them automobile races they got down in West Virginia. 

“I went back home after the war, stayed and moped around for a while ‘cause of this arm, but then Jimmy proposed we do it after he’d lost his job at that same race track. We took a lotta money and I left. Got myself a prosthetic, found my way into the alcohol business, and then kept makin’ money.

“I got all of this for you, Rey. I knew you were here, and I had to be close. I hoped for years you’d come here, wishin’ you’d find me at a party— you loved your parties— and it finally worked. Didn’t know Jimmy and Mellie followed me up here,” he revealed.

“Clyde Logan, ain’t alcohol illegal because of prohibition?” Rey teased. He just grinned and pressed his nose into her neck before leaving a kiss there.

“I ain’t ever said I was a saint, Rey, and you know it. But to answer your earlier idea, yes. I’ll come with you tomorrow and we’ll handle it together. Might do me some good to see Jimmy again, too,” he agreed. She pressed a kiss against his chest and closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of being with him once more.

His fingers smoothed over her shoulder and down her back and his breathing steadied below her, both bathing in the moonlight with the faint sound of the party still raging below them. Before sleep could take her, Rey’s eyes fluttered open and she maneuvered her body to glance down at the forearm laying limply on the sheets beside him.

Rey moved her hand across Clyde’s toned stomach and gently grasped the amputated ligament, pulling it towards her and running the backs of her fingers over the cinched skin. 

“Tell me about it. What happened?” she whispered. 

He sighed heavily, knowing if he could tell anyone about everything, including how he felt, it would be Rey. Hell, Clyde had just gotten her off with it, so he knew she genuinely cared and didn’t see him for just his missing hand. Clyde licked his lips out of habit, but he began anyway.

“We were gettin’ pulled out. War was over, they said. My battalion and me… we were in the cars gettin’ ready to go home. Hit a land-mine and that was it. Woke up in one of them temporary med tents with red cross nurses and doctors all around me. My arm ached somethin’ fierce, I looked down and… it was just gone.

“I got sent home with the bandages still on and wound up back in West Virginia with Jimmy and Mellie; their looks of pity just made me sick. It was like I wasn’t Clyde Logan anymore. I was the Logan with the missin’ hand. Didn’t leave the house because people stared.

“It was all they saw. Couldn’t get one-a them fancy prosthetics to hide it, so we carried out the heist and took the money. Jimmy got me the fake limb, and I took my share and left. Couldn’t be there anymore. Found a business here where they didn’t look twice and needed men brave enough to smuggle and sell liquor.

“Hell, I’d already been in war and lost a damn hand, so I joined in and… and I struck big, Rey. Got this fancy house right across from yours, wore nice suits so people would look at that first instead-a my hand. But I still hid away. I ain’t much for parties, ain’t much for stares neither, so I’ve just been savin’ all my money and sittin’ here waitin’ for you,” he finished.

Rey stayed quiet through his entire story, her feather-soft touches never ceasing on his arm, and it was instinctual when she kissed the pale skin and rested her cheek against it. “Mellie told me you felt like less of a man because of it. Will you tell me why?” she inquired further.

Clyde huffed at that question, somewhat annoyed that his sister had spilled the beans to the love of his life, but he nodded in assent. His puppy dog eyes were trained on the side of her face. He’d never seen such a prettier sight, and he was comforted by her nearness

For several seconds, he savored the moment— raking his eyes over her naked back half-covered by the sheets, her brunette hair that had been cut into a bob at some point, and her rosy lips that pressed against his arm. Rey’s freckles had even withstood the five years that passed and his heart fluttered at the discovery.

Eventually, he answered, “I was frustrated, Rey. Sad and angry. You… you knew me when I was whole, when nothin’ was missin’ on me. And I was angry with God. Not only did He take me from you, he also took a piece of me that I thought would put you even farther outta reach. I’m even cursed with feelin’ like it’s still there sometimes.

“I couldn’t hold things like I used to, couldn’t button up my shirts or grab objects or drive. How the hell was a man supposed to hold his girl’s hand? Touch her hair or dance with her or have sex? I just felt like I’d never have you again. Even if I had tried to let you go and think of other women, they didn’t spare me a glance,” he murmured. 

Rey pursed her lips and rose from where she laid beside him, swinging her leg over his hips so she could straddle him and press herself intimately against his body. Clyde’s eyes widened as Rey grabbed both of his arms, prompting them to wrap around her body.

“Clyde Logan, not even God himself could keep me from you. Did you not just make love to me with both arms? Did you not just run your fingers through my hair? Did you not just put your arm around my waist like one would do when they dance? Do you really think I won’t hold both of your hands, even if you’re missing one?” she shot back indignantly.

Clyde blushed at her intensity and he shook his head, agreeing with everything she said. “I love you, Clyde. You may have to change some things you do with me, but that’s just fine. I’ll be there and help you when you need it and show you that you can still do the things you used to,” Rey asserted.

If his bottom lip trembled, Rey spared him from any shame. She just cupped the side of his face and leaned forward to plant her lips earnestly against his. His cock twitched below her once more and her nipples pebbled against his chest.

“I’m leaving a husband that I never loved for you. If anything, that makes you more of a man that any I know,” she whispered against his lips. That was all it took for Clyde to roll himself back on top of her and pursue the second wind they both attained that night.

*****

When Rey woke the next morning, it was in the hold of warm arms on a foreign bed. Vivid memories of last night flooded into her consciousness and she blushed while she curled herself closer to her officer’s body. He was here.  _ Clyde. _ Clyde was here and he still wanted her and loved her.

Tears of pure happiness welled up in her eyes and dripped down onto his chest, her silent revelry being the thing that woke him from his slumber. His left arm, the one she’d been telling him and showing him she loved for the past twelve hours, came up to press against the side of her face along with his other hand.

“Rey… Rey, tell me. What is it?” Clyde asked with a sleep-grizzled voice. She let out a wet giggle and shook her head, looking up to meet his worried gaze.

“It makes me sad… because I missed all these years with you. But I’m so happy to have you back,” she choked out. That crooked smile of his blessed his face and Rey lifted herself to slot her lips against his once more.

It was going to be a big day for the both of them and they knew it, so she regretfully pulled away. Clyde helped her back into her dress and shoes, a secretive grin curving their mouths. 

When he was dressed at last and ready to return to the outside world without the prosthetic, Rey whispered fondly to him, “Come with me. I’ll call Sylvia right now and tell her to drive her and Jimmy to Joe’s. We’ll go to the city, rent the room, and tell them.”

So enthralled in everything that was Rey that he couldn’t refuse her if he wanted to, he nodded helplessly. They made their way through the empty halls, down the marble stairs, and past the mess of confetti, hooch, and passed out bodies while butlers worked to clean everything up. 

The car he revealed to her once they stepped into the garage made Rey giggle, a yellow Duesenberg Rolls Royce. Clyde couldn’t help but laugh beside her. 

“You said once your favorite color was yellow, so…” he admitted, trailing off suggestively. 

“I love it, you brute. Now take us to East Egg so we can finish this,” Rey chaffed with a beaming smile. 

He didn’t need to be asked twice. They clambered into the car and Rey watched with quiet adoration as he managed to steer with his forearm and shift the gears with his hand, just like any other man.

Their drive was filled with the sharing of stories, mostly how Clyde had received a medal from Montenegro for valor and was made a major. Rey also managed to persuade him to tell her about the alcohol industry.

She liked how dangerous his job was; that, of course, he’d found himself into something illegal like he’d done when he was little with Jimmy and Clyde seemed to like that she liked it too.  _ Women liked bad boys, didn’t they?  _

However, it was her words when they finally parked outside of her home in East Egg that really stuck with him before they entered. Rey turned to him in the car and reached for his hand, grasping it tightly in hers, with eyes that promised there was no one more she wanted to be with than Clyde.

“I wish I’d done everything on earth with you. All my life, I wished our week in Kentucky could be my always. And, now, it can be. For so long, I thought all the precious things in life faded so fast, and they’d never come back, but you did, Clyde Logan. I’m certainly glad to see you again,” she told him proudly. 

He swallowed hard and nodded before he replied, “Jimmy once told me I couldn’t repeat the past, but I told him, ‘of course, I could.’ I’m certainly glad to see you as well, Rey.” 

The soft smiles they shared bolstered them when they finally left the car. With her arm linked with his amputated one, they strode up the steps to the grand home. Before they could even make it to the landing, the doors slammed open to reveal Joe, Jimmy, and Sylvia waiting for them.

There was no going back now, and it was time to end the past for the sake of the future. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Well, I’ll be damned! Is that Clyde Logan?” Joe greeted with a wide grin, slapping his hand down on Clyde’s shoulder as they walked into the home and headed in the direction of the dining room. Sylvia was glaring something fierce at Rey, with Jimmy doing the same to Clyde, but the newly arrived couple ignored it.

“Joe. It’s been a long time,” Clyde returned cooly back. 

Joe eyed Rey’s arm interlocked with Clyde’s, but it barely seemed to bother him as they all entered the dining room and spread out to find places to relax. Rey sat down at the end of the table, flicking her gaze between Clyde and Joe, while Sylvia and Jimmy sat down quietly. Clyde claimed a spot for himself by one of the windows, looking out on the crystal clear waters while Joe poured himself something to drink. 

“Oh, I would like to be out on that bay today,” Joe huffed after he took a sip of his drink and moved to a window neighboring Clyde’s. The room was eerily tense as everyone waited for someone to say something. 

Clyde spoke first, pointing with his finger to the green light, just barely recognizable in the daylight by their dock. “I live right across from you. I can see the light at the end-a your dock blinkin’ every night,” he started. 

Sylvia turned her searing gaze to Rey. Despite that, she simply focused on the back of Clyde’s head and waited for his next move while her nerves grew exponentially. Why did she have the feeling Clyde was about to spill everything here instead of at the hotel? She bit down on her bottom lip.

“What light?” Joe grumbled. 

Clyde stepped away from the window and moved to the side of the table where Rey was sitting. Her eyes never left his face, fear bubbling up inside of her when his fingers slid across the table to reach for her hands. 

His eyes peered deeply into hers as he murmured, “You see, Mr. Bang, I wanted to be close…” 

Joe turned slowly, his gaze moving away from the daylight outside and towards the scene of Clyde’s hand creeping closer and closer. Abruptly, Rey stood and declared, “It’s too hot! What will we do with ourselves this afternoon or tomorrow or for the next thirty years?!”

“Oh, don’t be morbid,” Sylvia snapped.

“Let’s go to town— who wants to go to town?” Rey questioned anxiously, flicking her eyes to Clyde and giving him a warning look that he understood. She watched as he stepped down from saying what he’d wanted to and cooled himself off internally. The rest of the company stared at Rey in dumbfounded confusion.

“Town?” Joe wheezed in humored exasperation. “Oh, God, these notions…” he drawled out. 

Rey ignored his quip, instead grabbing a cigarette off a nearby bar cart and fumbling with a lighter, flicking it again and again in an attempt to light it. She needed something to soothe her nerves. Now, Clyde stared at her in earnest.

The lighter fell from her trembling hands, clattering to the floor.

Clyde was quick to stop a butler from picking it up so he could do it himself. The room went deathly quiet at the cacophony, all eyes immediately on Clyde as he held the bottom of the lighter with his left hand and fingers of his right deftly manipulated the sparkwheel.

A spark ignited the flame, and she leaned into him. Rey stared into his eyes, her handsome officer’s eyes, with a heavy look that conveyed her gratitude and love for him. Joe narrowed his eyes at the back of the room, but no one seemed to notice. 

“Rey,” Clyde hummed in acknowledgment. 

And whether it was the look she gave him or the mouthed  _ ‘I love you’ _ Clyde gave to her, Joe suddenly clapped his hands and boomed out, “Let’s go to town! I’m perfectly willing. It’s a marvelous idea! Butler, have the cars brought around!”

Rey and Clyde were torn from their secret conversation. She whipped around, now steadier inside, to shoot back, “Just like that? Can’t a girl have a cigarette first? Come on, let’s have fun! It’s too hot to fuss.” 

Joe waved off her comments, pointing out, “Rey, it was  _ your _ great idea! Why don’t we? Let’s all go to town.”

“I changed my mind, you beast,” Rey replied, feigning coolness and a teasing disinterest while the cigarette burned between her fingers. Slyvia, Jimmy, and Clyde sat back and watched the mild altercation between the married pair unfold.

“Well, come on. We’ll get a great, big room at The Plaza, a bucket of ice, a bottle of whiskey, and it. Will. Be.  _ Fun,” _ he emphasized each word with purpose. 

Rey swallowed down her rising disquiet and shrugged, continuing on with her act. She pretended like Joe was suddenly the only one making a scene. 

“Fine, Joe. Have it your way. Come on, Sylvia!” Rey called over her shoulder, swiftly moving past Joe and the butlers.

The rest of the party followed behind, exiting the home moments later. T-strap heels and shiny patent leather shoes crunched on the gravel outside while the sun beamed overhead as two butlers drove the cars around, the blue one belonging to Joe and the yellow one to Clyde. 

The departing party had to wait at the edge of the roundabout until the cars were parked and the butlers were out of the way. 

“Mr. Logan!” Joe called out impishly when they moved towards the vehicles. “Would you be good enough to take my coupe and I’ll drive everyone else in your circus vehicle?” he proposed, tacking on the subtle insult at the end. Rey’s jaw clenched, and she watched as Clyde made a fist with his hand by his right side.

“You can drive, can’t you? Or is the missing hand an issue?” Joe scrutinized with a measure of disdain. 

Clyde merely slipped on his sunglasses and suavely deflected, “I don’t think there’s much gas, Mr. Bang.” 

Joe glanced at the dash to read the fuel level and shook his head, “No, plenty of gas! If I run out, I’ll stop at a drugstore. I hear you can buy  _ anything _ at a drugstore these days.” The thinly-veiled dig referencing Clyde’s illegal bootlegging did not go unnoticed by Clyde nor Rey. 

Clyde tensed but calmly retorted, “Yes, I reckon you can.”

“You take Jimmy and Sylvia, and I’ll go with Clyde. We’ll meet you at The Plaza,” Rey cut in, looping her arm into Clyde’s once more to tug him towards the blue coupe. They situated themselves in the car while the rest of the party packed into Clyde’s with Joe in the driver’s seat. 

Sure enough, as they raced through the roads in the direction of New York City, Joe found that the car was nearly out of gas and needed to be fueled. With a clenched jaw and anxious eyes, Joe parked the yellow automobile outside of Sam’s— the same residence as his mistress.

His brother came stumbling out at the same time Joe exited the vehicle. Joe lifted his eyes to the upstairs apartment window where Mellie was perched, staring down at him with tear filled eyes and adorned in the pearl necklace Joe had bought her months ago. 

Sam trudged over to the car and wiped the sweat from his forehead as he opened up the gas cap to start filling the tank. “I’m glad you stopped by, Joe. Mellie and I, we need money real bad,” his brother divulged while Joe plucked some coins from his wallet.

“Really? What for?” Joe asked in a rush, still glancing up to Mellie in the window. 

Even Jimmy had turned to stare at his crying sister in the apartment above the gas station. It was clear Joe was feeling the hot whips of panic as the sight of his terrified mistress, and with the most recent betrayal of his wife, he was left feeling out of control.

“Mellie and I, we want to go West. See, I’ve caught onto somethin’ funny these last two days. Yeah, she’s goin’ West whether she wants to or not,” Sam proclaimed. 

It was at that moment that Rey and Clyde sped past. Joe hurried to clamber back into the yellow vehicle, he didn’t have time to think about what Sam’s revelation meant to him, and tossed two dollars worth of coins at Sam before tearing away without another word. 

Mellie watched on helplessly from the window above. 

*****

Every window was open in the hotel room, and every fan the hotel could provide was on at the highest speed. Concierges chipped away at blocks of ice with picks, collecting all the pieces small enough to fit in buckets cooling bottles of whiskey and champagne. 

Clyde stood by the open window, his eyes looking out over the city while Joe pressed a forgone ice cube against the back of his neck in the hopes of staving off the heat.

Everyone looked positively miserable with the sweltering climate; even Sylvia and Jimmy remained quiet despite the fact that the people they loved most were clearly about to have some sort of confrontation. It was inevitable. This time, it was Joe who spoke first.

“I want to ask Mr. Logan a question,” he stated imperiously. 

All eyes shifted to Joe as he blithely gathered more ice into a makeshift cooling cloth. 

“Please. Please, go on,” Clyde agreed, his entire demeanor had shifted since they crossed the bridge to get into New York City. 

Rey sat in her chair closest to him, staring at her husband with disgust and waiting to see just what the infuriating man had up his sleeve. “What kind of a row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow?” Joe gritted out, his dark gaze falling upon the handsome officer that Rey loved so much. 

Rey couldn’t help it then when she snapped out, “ _ He _ isn’t causing a row,  _ you _ are. Please have a little self-control.”

“Self-control?” Joe repeated incredulously, openly aghast and gaping at her. “Oh! I suppose I should just sit back and let Mr. Nobody from nowhere make love to my wife,” he growled. 

Sylvia and Jimmy remained silent, their eyes wide as they watched the situation escalate. Clyde’s jaw tensed for the umpteenth time that day, and he finally pushed away from the window behind Rey to stand beside her currently cozied up in the red chair. 

Joe shouted, “See, nowadays, people have  _ no care _ for family life and institutions!”

“Your wife doesn't love you,” Clyde blurted as soon as Joe finished. 

Everything in the room went deathly still. Only the sound of the metal fans whirring filled the quiet space and Rey’s breath hitched in her throat while Joe slowly turned his gaze from Rey to the giant West Virginian man beside her. 

“She never loved you,” he continued softly, placing his right hand on Rey’s shoulder to steady her. “You see, she loves me,” Clyde asserted with finality.

Joe took a step forward and narrowed his eyes, his lips pursing and face turning a mottled red in stark contrast to his bleached hair. “You must be crazy,” Joe hissed deliberately. 

Clyde only shook his head and stepped forward to stand up to Rey’s husband with the same courage he’d exhibited on the battlefield years ago. “No, Mr. Bang. No, you see, she never loved you. She only married you because I was at war and she was tired of waitin’. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart… she never loved anybody but me,” Clyde affirmed.

“Let’s go,” Sylvia interrupted with urgency. 

“Stay right there, Sylvia!” Joe rebuked harshly, making everyone flinch away while tears started building in Rey’s eyes. 

In her imagination, the situation had gone a lot better, but she could see now that this wasn’t going to be as simple as she’d hoped. Clyde was there again to steady her and offer her his left forearm to hold.

Rey gripped it tightly. She needed his support now more than ever.

“Rey… what’s been going on?” Joe interrogated cautiously, like a predator stalking its prey with measured stealth and determination. 

“I just told you, Mr. Bang. It’s been goin’ on for five years,” Clyde ground out in irritation, his dark demeanor sending a shiver down Rey’s spine. She liked how possessive he was at this moment, it made her feel protected and desired. 

“You’ve been seeing him for five years?” Joe questioned in disbelief, now only a few steps away from Clyde and Rey. 

The tension was so thick in the room, one could cut it with a knife. Sylvia and Jimmy cowarded together at the side of the room like frightened animals, too scared to do anything in case the conflict turned on them. 

“No, not seein’, we couldn’t, but… both of us loved each other all those years,” Clyde murmured, now turning his attention to Rey who was staring back up with watery eyes and a small smile that told him she adored him unequivocally.

“Oh, that’s all?” Joe asked before laughing uproariously and rather maniacally. “You’re crazy!” he shouted out to the heavens before he turned back to the bar to refill his whiskey glass. 

“Rey loved me when she married me and she loves me now,” Joe enunciated nonchalantly. 

Clyde attempted to make him see reason. “ _ No, _ no she don’t, Mr. Bang—”

“ _ She does! She does! _ ” Joe childishly countered.

“No—” he tried again.

“And what’s more,” Joe readily cut him off, “I love Rey, too.” He spun around to face Rey and whispered in a sickeningly sweet tone, “I love you, Rey.” His faux affection caused Rey’s grip to tighten on Clyde’s amputated arm, free from its prosthetic, as the first tear of hatred escaped down her cheek. 

“You’re revolting,” Rey spat. Clyde’s heart swelled with pride at her moxie, knowing she wasn’t falling for his lies.

“It’s all over, Rey, darlin’… tell him you don’t love him. Tell him the truth,” Clyde encouraged, giving her space so she could stand to get fresh air from the window with Joe glaring the whole time. “Tell him you never loved him,” Clyde muttered just for Rey.

She whipped around and bit out, “How could I love him, possibly? You’re sleeping with  _ Mellie! _ ” 

In an instant, Clyde was next to her as she stared down Joe with all the revulsion she felt. It was as if Slyvia and Jimmy weren’t even in the room. All that mattered to Rey was Clyde and getting rid of Joe. 

It was finally Joe’s turn to look genuinely stunned; not only had he caught them, but he’d been caught too. He ran a hand through his hair and took a nervous sip of alcohol from the tumbler in his white-knuckled hold. Rey could see in his eyes he was figuring out how to change the subject, but she wouldn’t let him.

With Clyde by her side, she squared her shoulders and seethed, “I never loved you. Not even when you carried me down from the punch bowl that one time to keep my shoes dry. Never. I’m leaving you, Joe. I love Clyde.” 

She pushed past Clyde and went to the table holding up the giant block of ice to retrieve another cigarette to keep her mind occupied and emotions in check. Clyde straightened himself out by the window, looking like the cat who’d caught the canary, his presence shining in a hunter green suit underneath the streaming sunlight. 

Joe sneered at him before turning around to look at Rey, now sitting on the edge of the chair Jimmy now occupied. She had no idea when Sylvia and Jimmy sat down again, only that she was there reaching back to grasp Jimmy’s hand for support while Clyde and Joe continued. Sylvia remained frozen. 

“You’ve got Rey all excited now, Mr. Bang,” Clyde mumbled to Joe as he walked past him to the bar to get his own drink now that things seemed to have entered the denouement. 

“No, I’m gonna take better care of you now, Rey—”

“You ain’t  _ gonna _ take care of her!” Clyde snapped back, losing a small sliver of his temper. His eyes pierced Joe with unyielding intent. “She’s leavin’ you!”

“ _ No, _ she’s not!” Joe screamed.

“I  _ am _ , though!” Rey yelled back.

The shouting match died as quickly as it started as she carefully elaborated, reasoning with her cuckold husband, “Joe, I don’t love you, and you don’t love me. You love Mellie, and Mellie loves you. You can have her, for all I care. I’m leaving, and we can finally both be happy with who we want.”

The room went quiet again as Joe considered her statement, teeth grinding together. Of course, Rey had brought her up again. Mellie, Clyde and Jimmy’s sister, who had stolen the heart of the man currently trying to convince Rey to stay. Rey doubted they’d let Mellie go with Joe now, but it didn’t matter to her so long as she got Clyde. 

In the end, Joe just smacked his lips, rolled his shoulders, and gave a curt nod in the smallest show of agreement possible while he lifted his wrist to look at the watch that rested there. 

“Why don’t you and Rey head on home now? In Mr. Logan’s car,” he offered tightly. 

Rey stood from her position, slipping her hand into Clyde’s and pulling him from the room before another word could be spoken. The couple was quiet as they left the hotel, clambering into his yellow vehicle with anxious thoughts and trembling limbs. It was Rey who took the wheel this time, certain it would steady her nerves.

In the hotel room they left behind, Joe packed up what was left of the whiskey while Jimmy faintly informed the small party, “I just remembered… today’s my birthday.”

*****

Rey and Clyde descended upon the Valley of Ashes as she sped across soot-covered roads while the cooling twilight fell around them. Their hands were tightly clasped together when Rey rounded a sharp corner, turning onto the straightaway that housed Sam’s gas station and convenience store with the small residence above. 

In the apartment, Sam clutched the pearls wound around Mellie’s neck and demanded to know where she got them from, who gave them to her and for what. Serendipitously spotting the yellow car she’d seen Joe in earlier, she made the snap decision to jerk her elbow into Sam’s neck, allowing her to dash out of the apartment and scramble down the stairs.

“Joe!  _ Joe! _ I’m here,  _ stop! Please! _ Joe!” Mellie shrieked, tears streaming down her face and arms flailing. 

She ran headlong towards the road, her vision blurred. The car’s occupants gasped in horror. Rey slammed on the brakes, holding the wheel firmly to control the swerve, and they made it out of the way just before Mellie could run into their path and be sent to her doom. 

Even before the car came to a full stop, Clyde swung open his door. “Get in, Mellie.  _ Now!” _ he demanded with alacrity. 

His sister scurried into the car, clutching at the arm of her brother’s fine suit. Sam roared in rage at the top of the apartment stairs, beside himself at his wife’s escape. Mellie sobbed into Clyde’s embrace as he glared at his sister’s husband, angrier at the fact she’d married Sam than the fact she loved Rey’s soon to be ex-husband.

Rey floored the accelerator and tore off into the night once more, the cool air whipping around them while they raced back to the Bang home before Joe and the others caught up. By the time they parked the car in the turnabout, Mellie had settled in Clyde’s arms and Rey had calmed down. 

They slowly trudged to the front door, hearing only the sound of the approaching automobile transporting Joe, Jimmy, and Sylvia just a little ways away from the property. 

“Let’s go to the lounge, Clyde,” Rey offered tiredly, fatigue wracking her body.

It had been a severely long day, and she had a feeling it was about to continue well into the late hours of the night. He nodded, using the right half of his body to support his sister while his left arm rested around Rey’s back. She melted into Clyde’s side and let him lead the way to the lounge quietly.

Mellie fell asleep almost as soon as Clyde helped her down onto one of the couches. Rey tugged her handsome lover to the opposite couch and curled up into his side while they stared at the entryway in anticipation. 

“You were so good today, Clyde Logan. I love you,” Rey purred distractedly into his shoulder.

He squeezed his arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips to the top of her head before replying gently, “You were very brave, too. I almost lost my temper… You know I ain’t good with that sometimes, but havin’ you there made it better.” 

Rey hummed and said no more as the lagging trio turned the corner and wandered into the room. Joe’s eyes narrowed at Rey and Clyde, but Rey just nodded her head pointedly in Mellie’s direction, still prone on the couch. His whole face transformed into something tender, a look she’d never been given.

Rey couldn’t lie, it hurt somewhat to know that her own husband was in love with another woman, but she reasoned with the fact that he felt the same way. Jimmy sat down on the back of the couch Mellie reclined on and benevolently brushed his fingers through her tousled curls in a comforting gesture while Sylvia and Joe sat at one of the tables nearby.

The room wasn’t necessarily tense, just weary. 

“Can I just ask how you two met?” Joe questioned suddenly, though his inquiry had significantly less venom than an hour or so ago. 

Clyde cleared his throat and looked down at Rey, who was already looking back up at him. “We met when I was an officer goin’ to war. Her foster mom, the one in Kentucky, hosted a party for the officers at Camp Taylor before we left. I met Rey there and we been in love since,” he answered honestly.

Joe rubbed a hand over his mouth and stared at them until a wave of realization washed over his face. “You were the one who sent the letter. The one before the wedding that had her a mess, weren’t you?” he posited.

Clyde frowned at that, glancing to Rey once more, but she wasn’t looking back this time. “I ‘spose so, yes,” he agreed. 

“You know I’m divorcing you, don’t you, Joe?” Rey spoke up. “It’s clear you’re in love with Mellie, and she sure as hell isn’t going back to Sam. We both get what we want, and no one has to get hurt again.” 

Joe raised his eyebrows and nodded resignedly, pursing his lips because he knew she was right. “I’ll, uh… talk to the lawyers tomorrow, then,” he capitulated. 

The room descended to silence until Sylvia stood, disturbing the peace a few minutes later. “Well, I’ve had it. This day has been something awful, and I’m tired. I’m going to one of the guest rooms tonight. I’ll see you bunch tomorrow morning,” she announced.

Everyone gave her a nod and listened as her heels clicked down the marble hallway, disappearing into the house. Jimmy went next, following after her and giving a look of knowing approval to Clyde before leaving. Mellie woke as soon as Jimmy got off the couch, Joe moved fast to help steady her.

When she managed to stand solidly on her feet, the paramours disappeared from the room in a cloud of hushed whispers, the air surrounding them light with the prospect of a new future together. Then, it was just Rey and Clyde in the lounge. 

“I don’t think I want to stay in New York anymore after this,” Rey whispered into the side of his suit jacket.

“I reckon I don’t want to either,” he concurred in a husky voice. 

She lifted his amputated arm to her lips, kissing the end of it where the flesh puckered and then held it close to her. 

“Where will we go?” she inquired. 

He shook his head and carded his fingers through her hair while the lights in the hall slowly flickered out, allowing everything but their room to fall under the blanket of darkness.

“Can’t go back to West Virginia or North Carolina… I think they’re still lookin’ for us Logans down there, but I wouldn’t mind Kentucky if you suggested it,” Clyde said smoothly, almost as if his answer had always been at the ready.

“Back to where we met?” Rey breathed out and pulled away from his side to meet his warm chocolate eyes that always showed her exactly what he felt. 

He cupped the side of her face in his right hand and nodded purposefully, his bottom lip slightly trembling in the old way she remembered.

“Alright, Clyde Logan. Kentucky it is.”

*****

Only one week after the incident at the hotel and the decision had been made that Rey and Joe were better off divorced, the two signed divorce papers to finalize their split. Because Rey wanted nothing to do with the man anymore and Clyde was well-off financially, she didn’t request anything in the settlement except her clothes.

They’d gone to the court to plead their case, Rey taking the fall for ‘infidelity’ since it was still a man’s world. It didn’t matter, she would soon leave New York and no one would know anything in Kentucky. 

All of her things had been packed up in trunks and moved to Clyde’s house, though he’d put it up for sale as soon as the matter was settled that Joe and Rey were splitting for good. Jimmy had decided to stay in East Egg with Sylvia, but Joe and Mellie planned a trip to Europe without any knowledge of when they’d be back.

As soon as the divorce was officially recognized by the law and Rey was given back her maiden name of Niima, a train of moving cars left the Logan mansion in West Egg and headed for Kentucky. Rey held Clyde’s hand during the entire move, a smile on both of their faces.

They found a property just a few miles outside of Louisville that was absolutely stunning with its bright green hedges, majestic fountains, rows of luscious trees, and a sand-colored mansion with pointed, grey rooftops. It was like a small slice of heaven in the same state they’d found each other.

And, of course, their bedroom was christened the very first night they’d moved in.

That night, Clyde took her from behind, his right hand fisted in her hair and his left forearm braced against the side of her hip. Rey’s body arched up into an almost impossible angle as her ensuing cries of ecstasy spurred on her future husband. 

“Oh, fuck, Clyde…” she whimpered, her head trying to drop as her arms began to shake with exertion. 

He let her hair go, his giant and rough palm drawing around her ribs to grope at one of her perfect little tits. Clyde’s entire hand swallowed the small mound and Rey whined at the feeling.

“Tell me what you’re wantin’, Rey,” he huffed from behind her.

Her arms finally gave out and she fell into the sheets face down, ass up. She yelped when his forearm spanked her ass and Rey fisted the sheets below her as he pinched and pulled at her pebbled peak under his greedy fingers.

_ “You! _ I want you!” she moaned into the vastness of the room. 

Clyde’s heavy frame draped over her back, pushing his cock even deeper inside of her tight heat while she wailed from below him. Her pussy was swollen from the pounding he gave her, but she was on cloud nine when it came to the pleasure coursing through her veins.

Clyde’s right hand found hers and laced their fingers together, his left arm rested lamely beside her other hand, unable to hold it as well. But Rey was determined, and when he hit something inside of her that sent stars across her vision, eliciting a high pitched groan, she grasped the end of his arm and squeezed it tightly.

“Fuck, Rey… I love you so much,” he gasped. 

“I love you, Clyde. I… I think I’m close,” Rey sputtered while unable to escape his hips that snapped into her velvety walls sending a large gush of slick down the inside of her thighs. She mewled at the feeling and tilted her head to the side so Clyde could lean down further and latch his mouth onto her neck.

That was all it took to send her over the edge, her orgasm hitting hard and making her pussy clench around Clyde’s cock. He groaned loudly into her ear, pushing every inch of himself inside before his cum spilled, filling every ounce of space left within her.

They both panted heavily, fighting to catch their breath while his spend dripped out of her pussy alongside her own wetness. Minutes passed, every second spent in pure bliss, until Clyde finally eased himself out of her and pulled her into his chest with a contented sigh.

Rey beamed up at him and pressed a kiss to his chest, loving the way his arms wrapped protectively around her. “They were a rotten crowd, Clyde Logan… but you’re worth the whole damn bunch put together,” Rey whispered into his skin. 

Nothing was said after that, but she heard his heartbeat pick up its pace inside his chest and that alone said more than words. 


	4. Chapter 4

“C-Clyde! Isn’t it… fuck… isn’t it bad to see the bride before the wedding?” 

Rey gasped, biting down on one hand while the other grabbed the doorframe beside her in the bathroom. He just continued what he was doing below the voluminous white tulle skirting of her wedding dress, his arms wrapped around her thighs to keep them open.

She moaned softly and her eyes closed as Clyde flicked his tongue over her clit again and again and  _ again _ in that perfect way he knew she liked. Rey’s knuckles turned white from the vise-grip she had on the doorframe, guests downstairs waiting for her and entirely unaware. 

Clyde had made up an excuse, ensuring he looked his best, to check himself out upstairs one more time before the ceremony. Instead, he’d slipped into her room with hungry eyes and face set in determination. It took him no effort at all to lift her from her chair, put her on the counter, get on his knees and bury himself under her skirt.

His forearm, without the hand, was miraculously thrusting inside of her. Rey had never felt so stuffed in her entire life. They’d done it a few times, or at least tried, and this seemed to be the deepest they’d gotten yet. 

Maybe it had something to do with it being their wedding day, and they could be caught or get in trouble? Rey didn’t think too hard about it— she was dripping wet and his arm was inside her. 

“You taste like honey, Rey,” Clyde’s gruff voice murmured beneath the layers of fabric.

“Hurry… h-hurry up. I’m so close, Clyde, please,” Rey whined loudly. 

His plush lips were back around her clit the next instant, sucking it between his teeth while his forearm pushed in and out of her pliant pussy. The tight coiling in her belly was growing more and more, the groan he let out shooting straight through her body.

Her toes curled as she pushed her sopping wet folds into Clyde’s face and arm, loving the way his facial hair tickled the inside of her thighs. God, she loved his facial hair, but that was something to worship another time. All the focus was on his forearm right now.

“Fuck,  _ fuck! _ Clyde!” she cried out, her back arching towards him as her head tipped back and her orgasm crashed like a wave over her body. Clyde fucked her through it, slowly and leisurely, until she started to shy away from his touch. 

He carefully withdrew his left arm from her and gave a final lick through her folds before pulling himself out from under her dress to meet her flushed face. Clyde’s face was covered in her slick, his facial hair soaked, but he grinned smugly at her and held up his arm to show the wetness left behind.

Rey blushed and swatted at him in embarrassment. “You’ve spoiled this wedding, Clyde Logan! Now I’m a mess, and you’ve seen my dress,” she whined, fanning her heated face with her hands. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I couldn't help myself. I just had‘ta come see you,” he confessed sheepishly. 

He reached out and helped her back onto her feet, steadying Rey’s wobbly legs until she could support herself. “Well, now you have, you brute. You’re lucky I don’t have my veil on, at least. Now go get yourself outside at that altar. Sylvie’s going to come looking for me soon to take me down!” Rey insisted. 

Clyde dipped down to steal one kiss from her, his eyes still glimmering with mischief, and then he was gone.

She really hoped he cleaned his face and arm up first. 

Leave it to him to make her have an orgasm just a short time away from her walking down the aisle. With a huff, Rey straightened herself out as best as she could, wiping the excess cum from between her legs and dabbing at the dampened fabric of her skirt. 

She and Clyde had been in Kentucky only two months, but Rey had yet to get her period.

She hadn’t said anything to him yet as the wedding was a sudden decision that they sprung upon everyone, including themselves, and it became their main priority. It was a small affair, only close friends and family, so it had been relatively easy to plan for the private event. 

Rey swore she would tell him tonight when she had him all to herself, long after the guests were gone and she was officially Rey Logan. But right now, it was time to get married. So she made herself as presentable as possible and snatched the veil off of the sink to pin it into her hair.

As expected, Sylvia peeked in only minutes later to retrieve her and sporting a warm smile and somewhat watery eyes. “You look like a dream, Rey. Even more beautiful than the day you were tied to stupid Joe Bang,” Sylvia complimented, cursing her ex-husband at the same time.

The same ex-husband that would be here with Mellie. 

“Thank you, Sylvie… Now, will you please walk me down the aisle so I can marry the love of my life and become Mrs. Logan after all these years?” Rey begged through a giant, toothy grin. Sylvia beamed back at her and looped her arm through Rey’s, tugging the veil over Rey’s face before either of them could forget.

The bouquet of white flowers was handed to Rey by one of the butlers as they descended the stairs and turned to the long hallway that would open at the very end and lead her to the aisle. With a deep inhale, Rey nodded to Sylvia and the pair started down the hallway to the french doors.

Two butlers held the handles, waiting until they were just a few feet away before opening the doors to reveal the garden outside. It looked as if Clyde Logan himself had ransacked a greenhouse with the number of flowers placed around the aisle and the seats holding excited guests. 

Rey loved it all. 

And at the very end, dressed in a three-piece black suit and bowtie, was the man who waited five years for her. Before deployment, through a war, following a heist, and after moving to West Egg to be close to her, Clyde Logan stood at the end of the aisle five years later. 

Rey couldn’t help the tears that welled up in her eyes as she gripped Sylvia’s arm for support and held the gaze of the same man who had stolen her heart while wearing a green uniform so long ago. The guests all stood when violin music started somewhere and she finally set foot on the aisle.

With an amused smile, Rey giggled at how magnificent everything was and continued down the stone path until Sylvia handed her off to Clyde in exchange for the bouquet. Rey didn’t waste a second and reached out to hold his right hand and his left forearm. 

If Clyde looked choked up about her utter lack of hesitancy, he managed to hold it back just fine. The pastor began to speak then, letting everyone know they could take their seats, but all Rey could focus on was the fact that she was actually here standing in front of him, and truly about to marry the love of her entire life. 

*****

Rey had somehow managed to get herself out of drinking for the night, telling everyone at least one of them had to remember the night, and everyone dropped it with a laugh. Well, everyone but Clyde. He stared at her through the reception, he stared at her while they shared their first dance, and he stared at her before she crushed the cake into his face. 

The night was perfect, even if Clyde couldn’t keep his suspicious eyes off her, and it seemed to be over all too soon. She wrapped her arms around her husband while they waved goodbye to drunken guests clambering into taxis, both of their hearts overflowing with so much love and contentment.

And when Joe Bang and Mellie finally left, the last ones to go, all Rey and her ex-husband did was give each other a small smile and a curt nod in acknowledgement. They’d found their people, despite all the pain and upset, and everything was undoubtedly better now.

As soon as the final car disappeared from the property, Rey tugged her puppy-dog-eyed husband back inside, squealing when Clyde abruptly swept her off her feet and carried her bridal style towards their bedroom. “You gonna tell me why you ain’t have a drop of alcohol tonight, Mrs. Logan?” he asked cockily.

Rey swatted at his chest and bit her lip. Batting her eyelashes at him while she observed his face, he seemed to be both amused and puzzled by her actions tonight. “Would you believe me if I told you there’s going to be another Logan in this house soon?” she whispered. 

Clyde stopped at the very top of the stairs, staring down at her with wide eyes and parted lips, so much hope and adoration consuming his face that Rey let out a nervous laugh. 

“You mean that? You lyin’ to me, Rey Logan?” he pressed.

With some levity, Rey assured him, “Clyde, I know you think your whole damn family’s cursed, but I promise you… we’ve just gotten a little blessing.”

He finished climbing the rest of the stairs then and wasted no time getting her out of her dress with excited hands and enamored eyes. 

See, Clyde Logan had believed in that green light, that orgastic future with Rey that year by year had receded before him. It had eluded him then, but it was no matter now. Rey was with him now, and the silly hope he’d held onto for so long when it came to repeating the past appeared to have finally come true.

Five years had been a long time, yes, but it was nothing compared to the forever they had with each other now—forever and always. 


End file.
